Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the causative agent of the disease gonorrhea. Approximately 300,000 women a year contract gonorrhea in the U.S. Worldwide, the number of women with this infection is in the millions. It is a major cause of infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease. It is also a major co-factor in the spread of HIV1.
In men, gonococcal infection develops as an acute urethritis that is typically characterized by a purulent discharge that results as a consequence of the concurrent inflammatory response to infection. In women, gonococcal infection can develop as an ascending infection of the genital tract that can lead to an acute pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, or ectopic pregnancy. High proportions of women, however, initially develop asymptomatic gonococcal infections, in contrast to N. gonorrhoeae infection in men.
The mechanisms by which the gonococcus infects and invades the female genital tract are only beginning to be understood. Research has shown that gonococci are capable of invading primary human epithelial cells derived from both the endo- and the ectocervix. These studies implied that the mechanism(s) used by the gonococcus to breech the cervical epithelium are distinct from those mechanisms used to invade the urethral epithelium of men and that several endocytic mechanisms appear to play a role in gonococcal invasion of the female genital tract.
Currently there is no vaccine for the prevention of gonorrhea in men or women. Therefore, there is a need for an effective means to prevent or ameliorate neisserial infections in women.